Nayaswami Bharat – Ananda Sangha Worldwidehttp://www.ananda.org
Fri, 16 Mar 2018 17:55:41 +0000en-UShourly1124114858The Goal of Every Soulhttp://www.ananda.org/quotes/bharat-cornells-daily-meditator-newsletter/
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 22:49:55 +0000http://www.ananda.org/?post_type=ananda_quotes&p=44795The goal of every raindrop is to reach the sea, just as it is the goal of every soul to unite with God.

]]>44795The Sky and Earth Touched Mehttp://www.ananda.org/nature-god-joy-sky-earth/
http://www.ananda.org/nature-god-joy-sky-earth/#commentsSun, 01 Sep 2013 16:48:46 +0000http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/?p=15809The following article is excerpted from the book, The Sky and Earth Touched Me, by Nayaswami Bharat. The book includes exercises that can calm and internalize your awareness and inspire you to become immersed in nature’s joyful presence.

The Sky and Earth Touched Me will be available for purchase through Crystal Clarity Publishers, May 2014.

******

Living in Oneness

We aren’t merely observers of natural beauty. Because our souls contain the whole world, everything we observe in nature is a part of us. People enjoy being in nature because there they see ennobling qualities they want for themselves. In its myriad forms, nature helps enrich and expand us.

Richard Jefferies, the English poet, spoke of everything in nature—a flower, a lake—as “touching him and giving him something of itself.” He “spoke to the sea… and desired its strength.” He addressed the sun, and consciously drew upon the soul equivalent of its light. He looked at the sky, gazed into its depths, and felt the “blue sky drawing his soul toward it, and there it rested.”

******

An All-Pervading Benevolence

In 1887 Sir Francis Younghusband, then a young British military officer, was asked by his superiors to travel from Beijing, China to India by way of the Gobi desert and the Himalayan Mountains.

Since Younghusband did not share a common language with his guides, he spent day after day essentially alone in the silent wilderness. It was a daring and dangerous journey for the first European to successfully cross the world’s largest desert and highest mountain range, but for him there was an even more important discovery, which he described as follows:

“To enable my eight camels to feed by daylight, I used to start at five o’ clock in the afternoon and march till one or two in the morning…. The sunset glow would fade away. Star after star would spring into sight till the whole vault of heaven was glistening with diamond points of light….

“I knew that the number of stars, besides those few thousands which I saw, had to be numbered in hundreds of millions. But it was not the mere magnitude of this world that impressed me. What stirred me was the Presence, subtly felt, of some mighty all-pervading Influence which ordered the courses of the heavenly hosts and permeated every particle.

“We cannot watch the sun go down day after day, and after it has set see the stars appear, rise to the meridian and disappear below the opposite horizon in regular procession, without being impressed by the order which prevails. We feel that the whole is kept together in punctual fashion, and is not mere chaos and chance.

“The presence of some Power upholding, sustaining, and directing the whole is deeply impressed on us. And in this Presence so steadfast, so calm, so constant, we feel soothed and steadied. Deep peace and satisfaction fill our souls.”

******

Thoreau’s Advice

Henry David Thoreau was so deeply serious about his walks in nature that he gave the following advice for anyone contemplating taking a walk outdoors:

We should go forth… in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return. If you are ready to leave father and mother… wife and child and friends, and never see them again, — if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man, then you are ready for a walk.

******

Forest Bathing

When we walk through a forest, nature’s benevolence flows into us as sunshine flows into trees. Beneath soaring pines and giant, spreading oaks, one’s thoughts naturally turn expansive and harmonious.

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, is the Japanese practice of going to the forest to receive mental and physical healing. I first learned about Forest Bathing in the Japanese Alps years ago.

All cultures recognize that trees uplift the human spirit. To ancient people, trees were channels for the gods; forests were mankind’s first temples and sanctuaries.

Trees, living high in the sky, receive 95% of their sustenance from the atmosphere. Drawing nourishment from the sun and sky, trees express a divine benevolence. Buddhist scriptures speak of the unlimited kindness of trees: how they give generously, and offer protection and shelter to all beings.

******

Find a beautiful place in the forest and reflect on the following:

“All terrestrial things are essentially celestial.” (John Muir) This is especially true for trees. In what ways do trees and forests inspire you? What noble qualities do you feel trees express?

“To know trees,” Muir said, one “must be as free of cares and time as the trees themselves.”

******

The Grandfather Tree

A gardener once introduced Katie to a mature oak inhabiting his garden. He called the elderly tree “Grandfather.” A few days later, Katie told me, she was walking past Grandfather Tree “when I sensed him calling to me.”

“I went over to Grandfather, sat down, and leaned against his trunk,” said Katie. “At first, it seemed strange to try to communicate with a tree, but once I stopped thinking, I knew what to do. After a few minutes, I felt a protective, fatherly feeling coming from the tree. I thanked the tree and sent him loving energy in return. When I left the Grandfather Tree, I felt I was welcome to visit him whenever I needed to.”

On a subsequent visit, I asked the tree, “Grandfather, how do you experience God?”

At first, my own thoughts answered for him, but after these thoughts quieted down, I felt his answer: “Love.”

Warm, gentle love came emanating from Grandfather Tree into my body and I was able to experience the way that he experienced love.

Then Grandfather said that

All of nature is love. Everything is love. And it is all One. I experience this love continuously.

All nature—the flowers, the trees, the rivers—want to share in this love with us. The flowers want us to stop for a moment and give them our loving touch. The trees want us to stop and share in a moment of stillness. They want to smile at us and for us to smile back, but we never stop to look upon their shining faces.

We must open our hearts and eyes to see the gifts of life around us. If we do, Grandfather said, “We will be able to remember our oneness.”

Three weeks have past since Katie’s talk with Grandfather. Katie said that now, wherever she goes, she feels a wondrous love and rapport with nature. Love one another, Katie says, “means to love not only the human race, but all existence.”

In Love with the World

Sir Francis Younghusband (see above) tells about a later visit to Tibet:

“After arrival in camp I went off into the mountains alone. It was a heavenly evening. The sun was flooding the mountain slopes with slanting light. Calm and deep peace lay over the valley below me—I seemed in tune with all the world, and all the world seemed in tune with me.

“After the high tension of the last 15 months, I was free to let my soul relax. So I let it open itself out without restraint. And in its sensitive state it was receptive of the finest impressions and quickly responsive to every call. I seemed to be truly in harmony with the Heart of Nature.

“And my experience was this—I had a curious sense of being literally in love with the world. I felt as if I could hardly contain myself for the love which was bursting within me. It seemed to me as if the world itself were nothing but love.

“My experience was no unique experience. It was an experience the like of which has come to many men and women in every land in all ages. It may not be common; but it is not unusual.”

******

Harmony Runs through All Life

The sun and trees are beautiful symbols for the benevolent presence that pervades creation. Harmony is the unifying principle of life, and when we cooperate with the flow of life, we unite with the stream of love that animates all beings.

Plants and animals show cooperative behavior

John Muir disagreed with advocates of Darwin’s evolutionary theory who emphasized only the strife and competitiveness in nature.

Forest ecologists have discovered that plants don’t behave as individuals competing with each other. Trees are united with other trees through their root system underground and share nutrients depending on which tree most needs them. In one experiment researchers draped shaded cloth completely over one tree so that it couldn’t produce food from the sunlight. The scientists discovered that nearby trees gave the shaded tree the nutrients it needed through a spidery network of mycelia, or living fungi cells.

The 19th century Russian scientist, Peter Kropotkin, eagerly sought proof of evolution’s “survival of the fittest” premise in eastern Siberia. To his surprise, the young scientist discovered that the most successful animals weren’t the most competitive ones, but those who coped with the harsh environment primarily through cooperative behavior. Applying his Siberian experience to humans, Kropotkin asked rhetorically, “Who is the fittest: those who are continually at war with one another, or those who support one another?”

Nearly every traditional society operates on the basis of highly cooperative relationships, and in most traditional cultures over-competiveness is viewed as a sign of insanity.

Once a class of Navajo children taught their Anglo-American teacher a valuable lesson in human relations. During the teacher’s first week at their school, he asked one of the Navajo students to answer a simple question. The young boy couldn’t answer correctly, so the teacher asked if anyone else knew the answer. The other Navajo children, however, stared straight ahead and wouldn’t respond.

The teacher was puzzled by their silence because he felt that most of the students knew the answer. Later, the teacher learned why no one had raised his hand: the young Navajos didn’t want their classmate to lose face. Their friend’s well-being and self-confidence were far more important to them than impressing the teacher.

******

Life Responds in Kind

If we honor the sacredness of life in all beings, we will perceive harmony everywhere because life will respond in kind. “A beautiful soul dwells always in a beautiful world.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

While meditating outdoors, I have had animals approach me many times. Once a large male deer was sitting quietly in front of me. Later, during my meditation, I began to visualize and bless the deer. Immediately, the deer stood up and came over and gazed intently at me from two feet away for twenty minutes. He sniffed once, to let me know he was standing there.

Another time while camping in the Cascade Mountains, I entered a small subalpine valley filled with shallow, bubbling streams and wildflowers. The feeling of bliss in the valley was so palpable, so thrilling, that I had to drag myself away when it was time to leave.

******

Finding Wholeness within Ourselves

Doing things not only for nature but with the spirit of nature is one of Sharing Nature’s central principles. To convey nature’s spirit to others, it’s necessary first to deeply experience nature ourselves. Awe, reverence, timelessness, and wholeness are qualities people report feeling while visiting natural areas. Nature’s purity helps us expand our awareness and touch wholeness within ourselves.

Richard St. Barbe Baker, forester and earth healer, had an experience in an English wood that set the course for his life. At the age of five, after much coaxing on his part, St. Barbe convinced his nurse to let him walk alone in the woods for the first time:

I set out on that greatest of all forest adventures….. Soon I was completely isolated in the luxuriant, tangled growth of ferns which were well above my head. I became intoxicated with the beauty all around me, immersed in the joyousness and exultation of feeling part of it all…. At that moment my heart brimmed over with a sense of unspeakable thankfulness which has followed me through the years since that woodland rebirth.

Twenty-five years later St. Barbe’s passion for trees led him to Kenya in 1920, to begin his social forestry work that encouraged local people to reforest their land. Through his international organization, Men of the Trees, St. Barbe was responsible for planting 26 trillion trees. His rapport with nature enabled him to inspire countless thousands to re-green the earth.

******

Two Ways of Seeing the World

In the modern worldview, consciousness and soul are seen to exist only in human beings. Generally speaking, the modern mind separates itself from the encompassing world. In the primal worldview, consciousness and “soul pervade all of nature and the cosmos, and a permeable human self” freely bonds with its larger world.

“To ancient thinkers, soul was the mysterious force that gave life and breath to the myriad of the earth’s creatures. Later, theologians restricted the possession of a soul to human beings.”

The modern view that humans are alive and everything else is dead (or dimly aware), has justified mankind’s abuse of his greater environment.

******

Life’s “Joyous Inseparable Unity”

Those who perceive Nature’s underlying harmony and benevolence have tremendous impact on others. John Muir was one of the most effective voices for conservation the world has ever seen. His effectiveness sprang from his experience of life’s “joyous inseparable unity.” When Muir spoke of his encounters with wild animals, trees, and mountain storms, his listeners said it felt as if they were actually there.

Robert Underwood Johnson, a leading conservationist of Muir’s day, spoke of the tremendous influence Muir had on everyone. Johnson said, “Muir’s writings and enthusiasm were the chief forces that inspired the conservation movement. All other torches were lighted from his.”

******

The purity of nature brings out the purity in us. Birds, stones, and flowering trees don’t have egoic awareness. The lack of ego-affirmation in nature is the reason we feel peaceful in wild places.

“I think I could turn and live with the animals; they are so placid and self-contained.” (Walt Whitman.)

******

Nature: The Great Teacher & Healer

To create a society that truly loves and reveres the natural world, we must offer its citizens life-changing experiences in nature. One moment of entering deeply into nature can inspire in people new attitudes and priorities in life that would take years to develop.

Most people, John Muir said, are like little marbles, rigidly alone, “having no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything.” We are surrounded with other people and nature’s beauties to help us expand our consciousness and self-identity. The more we commune with the living essence of nature, the more we’ll feel the joy of the universe passing
through us.

]]>http://www.ananda.org/nature-god-joy-sky-earth/feed/115809AUM: Stories of Protectionhttp://www.ananda.org/aum-yoga-meditation-god-christ/
http://www.ananda.org/aum-yoga-meditation-god-christ/#commentsTue, 18 Sep 2012 23:50:22 +0000http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/?p=13959The following article is excerpted from the forthcoming book, AUM: The Melody of Love, by Nayaswami Bharat (Bharat Cornell), author of Sharing Nature with Children and other books. AUM: The Melody of Love will be available for purchase in 2013.

The Melody of Love

The Holy Ghost, or AUM, is God’s conscious, loving presence in creation. AUM is the bridge that unites human and cosmic consciousness. AUM is the music of all atoms and the cosmic melody of love vibrating in the superconsciousness. When one communes with AUM, he enters into, and flows with, the stream of God’s love.

AUM is called the Comforter, because it gives supreme comfort to the soul. When one is absorbed in AUM, he feels a wonderful peace and harmony. No harm can come to one who is in the consciousness of AUM. How could harm come to one who is united with the Essence of the universe?

*******

Nothing Can Touch You

While backpacking in California’s Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, three women from Ananda Village had a dramatic experience of the power of AUM. On the fourth day of their trip, a furious thunderstorm caught them at 10,000 feet. Loud cracks of lightning and massive explosions of thunder crashed around them. Torrential rain fell; then hail began to fall harder and harder. Desperate for shelter, they ran to a couple of small trees, which soon proved inadequate protection against the pounding hailstorm.

Seeing a large tree nearby, they bolted for its sheltering branches. Already wet, they struggled out of their packs and dug for their rain jackets. The temperature, meanwhile, had plummeted, and the hail began to fall even harder.

They knew they were in trouble. In their drenched condition, hypothermia was a real possibility. They badly needed shelter. Yet, standing under the highest tree around wasn’t wise—because tall trees are perfect lightning rods. They wondered aloud, “Do we risk hypothermia or lightning strikes?” Both options were dangerous.

Then one of the women began chanting to all-pervading AUM. The two other women quickly joined in. Suddenly, they felt as if a bubble of protection surrounded them. Their fear was gone—a feeling of awe and gratitude filled their hearts. For twenty minutes, they chanted and enjoyed the majestic show of lightning and hail. After the storm, everything was transformed into a white wonderland; they felt blessed beyond measure by the love and protection of AUM.

Being in AUM gives one absolute security. The whole world could go up in flames and it wouldn’t matter to you. Swami Rama Tirtha was a great devotee of AUM. He chanted AUM always—during lectures, conversations, and solitary walks in nature. Before he knew AUM, he said, every whiff of wind threw him off balance. But after constant practice and remembrance of AUM, he became completely free of annoyance, anxiety, and fear. He told his students, “If one man can do this, you can, too.”

Absolute Security and Assurance

Communing with AUM makes one fearless. One’s reality shifts from the ego, which can never be secure, to the Cosmic Vibration, which is the essence of all creation. Ego consciousness isolates us from the rest of life. Those who deeply merge with AUM, however, know and say, “I am the whole universe. What can possibly harm me?”

After three hours of intense pain, I realized its location was near the lower three chakras. As the stone made its way down through my body I began chanting AUM at the appropriate chakra. I chanted as loudly as I could and visualized light at the chakra. Each time I chanted, the pain decreased dramatically; each time I stopped, it returned in full force. I could feel AUM vibrating in the chakras, as though breaking up the stone. Finally, after a couple of hours of chanting, the pain stopped completely and never returned.

As I was having dinner with a Unitarian minister, after giving a meditation class at his church, he looked at me intently and shared the following experience: “I was going through a very challenging time in my life. Every night I prayed deeply that harmony would prevail, but the situation remained inharmonious and divisive. One night, I suddenly heard the most marvelous sound. It was like a great, rushing wind. I can never forget it. In that moment I felt great reassurance, and I absolutely knew that everything would work out for the best—and it did.” He looked at me and said, “What was that sound?”

I was thrilled by the blessing he had received. I told him, “You heard the Holy Ghost—what Jesus called ‘the Comforter.’” The AUM vibration had brought into this minister’s life the very comfort and healing Jesus described in the Bible.

*******

The Supreme Vibration

Everything is energy in condensed form: plants, rocks, stars, and our bodies vibrate at different frequencies. “Because nature is an objectification of AUM… man can obtain control over all natural manifestations through the use of certain mantras or chants.” (Paramhansa Yogananda)

On August 28, 2004 members of Ananda Village witnessed a dramatic demonstration of AUM’s sovereignty over natural phenomena. Late August in California is the height of the fire season, with grasses browned by the summer heat.

At 11:30 a.m. a fire started on the steep slope below Ananda’s guest retreat, The Expanding Light. The fire’s location made it especially ominous. Forest fires travel much faster uphill than downhill, because the fire preheats its uphill fuel with the rising smoke and heat.

The blaze spread quickly and raced upward, threatening to destroy The Expanding Light and the Ananda Community. Nine air tankers and helicopters soon appeared and began dropping water and fire retardant. Forty fire engines and 400 firefighters arrived shortly afterwards to try to contain the growing inferno.

As low flying bombers released red streams of fire retardant into the thick, smoky air, the retreat look more and more like a war zone. Many community residents and guests were covered with fire retardant.

Everything that could be done on the physical level was being done. Government agencies had responded quickly and capably to the fire. Ananda residents were putting out spot fires, thus freeing the professional firefighters to work on the front lines of the blaze. Fire crews were doing a magnificent job protecting the retreat buildings and slowing the fire’s advance.

Despite the concentration of many fire fighting resources gathered to fight the blaze, the fire chief had the uneasy feeling that this fire was “going to be one of those that go totally out of control and burn thousands of acres and hundreds of homes.” His concern seemed validated when the inferno began moving uphill toward a nearby cluster of twenty Ananda homes. With strong winds pushing the fire upslope, the blaze seemed more and more likely to reach the cluster. Residents of the threatened homes were already packing and evacuating.

At the Ananda Community market and visitor center, located a safe quarter mile from the fire, retreat guests and community residents had gathered. Seeing that people were frightened—and feeling that Ananda was under physic attack by a dark force that had manifested as the fire—Nayaswami Devi organized a prayer circle. The circle started with twenty people, and grew to fifty.

Those gathered blessed the fire fighters, the homes and buildings of our neighbors and of Ananda; the fire itself; and the trees and wildlife living on the land. After each prayer they chanted AUM three times, to energize their petition by the truth of Cosmic AUM. The Cosmic Vibration is beyond duality. The swings of cause and effect (karma) are stilled and nullified by AUM’s pristine vibration. “At first,” Devi said, “the darkness seemed stronger than our prayers. But after two hours of praying and chanting AUM, the darkness felt diminished.”

When the fire chief arrived back at the market area, he was quite pleased. The fire was contained. To the Ananda residents, he said, “You were very lucky. I have never seen winds reverse themselves so dramatically. The fire was heading toward the housing cluster when it suddenly stopped—because the wind suddenly changed direction. I don’t know what you people did. But it worked.”

*******

While in solitary confinement in Communist Romania for his Christian faith, pastor Richard Wurmbrand heard in the silence a sound “more beautiful than the most beautiful music. A sound,” he said, “that you never tire of.” Holy AUM came to him unsought. In time, the Cosmic Sound will come to you, too, and you’ll receive wondrous realizations and bliss from the Blessed Comforter.

*******

Nothing Can Touch You

When you feel worried or anxious, call on Holy AUM. Pray believing in its sovereignty over matter. “Problems… that arise when we deal with inert matter will be transformed… once we become conscious that we are dealing with a living reality behind [matter].” (Swami Kriyananda) AUM is the living reality behind every joy and challenge in your life. Remember always Yogananda’s promise: “When you are in the consciousness of AUM, nothing can touch you.”

As Doctor Lewis, Yogananda’s first Kriya Yoga disciple in America, was sailing outside Boston Harbor, a sudden storm blew up, with great violence. Thinking he might drown, he focused his consciousness at the Christ Center in the forehead and saw the great light of the Spiritual Eye. [The inner light is a primary manifestation of the Cosmic Vibration.] Instantly, he felt a sense of peace and security envelop him and he knew he would survive: nothing could harm him; he was safely in the consciousness of AUM.

“When I got home,” Doctor Lewis said, “the phone rang. Master was on the other end of the line. He said to me, ‘You came near getting wet, Doctor, didn’t you?’”

*******

The Winds of Grace

The winds of grace are always blowing. A man from Massachusetts told me that as an infant he heard the sound of AUM continuously. When adults around him became worried or inharmonious, he wanted to comfort them: “Don’t worry. Everything is okay because AUM is here.” But he hadn’t yet learned to speak and so wasn’t able to share with them the comforting power of AUM.

*******

How the Guru Frees Us

Paramhansa Yogananda said of his disciple, Sister Gyanamata—“She has lived in my vibrations for a long time.” Whenever he sent her a special inner blessing, she would feel it instantly. While living in Seattle, she had several serious physical ailments. When Gyanamata’s condition worsened, she wrote a letter to Yogananda, who was then lecturing in New York City, asking for his prayers. On the day she thought the letter had arrived, she heard AUM’s tremendous roar and felt her body shaking. Her guru had received her letter and sent Cosmic AUM to heal her.

Bathing in AUM’s sacred vibrations is the true baptism. The technique for listening to AUM is usually given as an initiation because of the importance of the guru’s magnetism. The guru is beyond vibratory creation and guides his disciples—through Cosmic Vibration—to the deepest states of enlightenment.

*******

Go Within

AUM is devoid of duality. It’s the only sound not made by striking another object and so is called the “unstruck” sound. AUM’s thrilling sounds cannot be heard by physical ears, but only by the intuitive power of the soul. Below, a devotee describes AUM’s pristine quality after hearing it emanate from his heart center:

“I heard the sound of church bells and it was utterly beautiful and crystal clear. It had a sense of lightness and clarity unlike anything I have ever experienced. If you can imagine the heaviness of ordinary sound produced by the air it must pass through, this was completely unlike that. It was the essence of sound before it meets air—as if the sound was conveyed on light through space with no grossness whatsoever.”

*******

Another friend of mine had an enthralling experience, also unsought, with AUM. He had come to our Ananda Center on the Peninsula for the first time. That evening, throughout the class, he heard beautiful harp music. He assumed someone in the building was an extremely accomplished musician. But, inexplicably, he continued to hear the melody as he drove home and throughout his week at work.

When he came to class the following week, he said, “I love music, and I have never heard anything so beautiful as that harp music. What is this?”

I said, “You are hearing the sound of AUM manifesting through the third chakra. The sound of the third chakra is like that of a harp. It is because of this lovely sound that people envision angels playing harps in heaven.”

*******

Listening with Devotion

Except for unmoving Spirit, AUM is the subtlest of all realities and can only be perceived by a pure and attentive heart. One should practice his meditation techniques with a sense of privilege. As you mentally chant and listen to AUM, do so with deep feeling for and awareness of its omnipotence and omnipresence.

The following words by Swami Kriyananda express the profound and encouraging truth on how one really advances spiritually:

You may think, “I can never love God the way the great saints love Him. I’ll never have their fervor or joy.” But you will find that as you keep reaching for God, He will uplift you. He will give you the power to find Him. You can’t generate that power yourself. But your love can draw that power to you.

*******

What If I Don’t Hear AUM?

People sometimes become discouraged when they don’t hear AUM clearly. It’s helpful to remember that hearing AUM purely and constantly signifies a deep state of meditation, which, if it is sustained, leads to samadhi. Listening reverently to whatever sounds you hear is the key to deepening your experience of AUM. A friend described once during meditation, hearing a very soft sound in the background. He assumed it was just a sound made by his physical body. As he focused on it, however, it became the thrilling sound of AUM.

God’s grace, through Cosmic Vibration, has created you. To declare, I don’t hear AUM so it must not be for me, is to say, “I am separate from the rest of creation.” This separateness simply isn’t possible. “AUM is a sound with which all can commune, and into which also, in time, all can merge.” (Swami Kriyananda) The day will come when you’ll know that AUM is—and always has been—your greatest Friend.

*******

Live in the Consciousness of AUM

“You are not a physical body, but a blissful manifestation of AUM.” (Swami Kriyananda) Live in the consciousness of AUM. One who constantly sings AUM during his activities, and with his whole being, makes his life a continuous song of joy.

Question

One of our devotee smells incense during Aum Technique. Any correlation of Aum technique and smells? any guidance we can share with him to put him at ease?

aum guru

pankaj

—pankaj, India

Answer

Dear Pankaj,

There isn’t a direct correlation between the AUM technique and smelling incense. However, since everything emanates from the Cosmic Vibration, I can see how smelling it could happen.

On the spiritual path there are many different kinds of phenomena that the devotee can experience. Divine smells are one of them.

The important thing is to focus on the inner joy and deep calm you feel in meditation. If you feel this, you know it is a good thing. It is always important not to focus on these experiences and give them too much importance. What is importance is our self-offering to God.

Question

I am a novice meditator, still experimenting with the inner light technique that I have learned from your instructions.

1. It helps me if I use some kind of soulful music, I can then quiet my mind and see inwardly more clearly. Is that something that is recommended to do?

2. Should I order the "Ananda Course in Self-Realization" of should I first meditate for some time prior to getting it?

—E.M., Canada

Answer

Dear Eliott,

Listening to music does inspire us, but Paramhansa Yogananda did say that when we are listening to music during meditation, part of our life force or concentration is drawn outwards in order to hear a physical sound. If you do want to use music, use it at the beginning of your meditation practice for inspiration.

I do think it is okay for you to use music with a visualization, however. One you do learn the meditation practice like Hong Sau and others that are in the Ananda Course, your energy will be so interiorized that you will not need music. We use music at the beginning of our meditation practice, during a chanting break, and at the end of our meditation.

I would recommend ordering the Ananda Course right away. This way you can learn techniques that will deeply interiorize you during meditation. The course will walk you all the way through. Also, you won’t develop any bad habits that you will later have to overcome.

Question

i am a buddhist, i have complete faith in the buddha and his dharma. moreover i am also attracted to yoga as it is explained by yoganada in his classic autobiography. i want to be clear if i will be welcome when i approach ananda to learn kriya yoga. will my buddhist faith be a disqualification for initiation into the method of kriya yoga? does your community insist on converting to hinduism or sanathan dharma before any real empowerment can be given?

—avin, india

Answer

Dear Avin,

Your Buddhist faith does not disqualify you from Kriya Yoga initiation.

However, the Kriya Yoga technique does require on the meditator’s part a receptive openness and love for Paramhansa Yogananda and our other lineage of gurus.

Kriya isn’t a mechanical technique, it is one that is empowered by the magnetic influence of the guru. So there should be a strong bond of deep appreciation and gratitude for our line of gurus. If this is something you deeply feel, then I would encourage you to contact us. Paramhansa

Yogananda taught several meditation techniques like Hong Sau that one can learn without taking discipleship. This is a very profound practice and it is one that he called baby Kriya. You can learn this right away on our website.

Blessings and light,

Bharat

]]>18018Learn To Live Without Fearhttp://www.ananda.org/aum-kriyananda-yogananda/
http://www.ananda.org/aum-kriyananda-yogananda/#commentsTue, 01 Sep 2009 19:47:23 +0000http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/?p=4500Have you ever failed at something and Divine Mother later gave you a second chance? Recently, an Ananda devotee told me an inspiring story of having a second chance, but only after she had worked very hard to go deeper in meditation.

This woman (whom I’ll call Nancy) was at her bank, waiting to make a deposit when suddenly, she found herself right in the middle of a bank robbery. Nancy became very fearful and “lost it” emotionally. At the time, her basic response when something challenging moved into her life was to take two steps back.

Afterwards, Nancy was very disappointed in her response and thought, “I’ve got to do better.” To change this fearful tendency in herself, she put a great deal of time and energy into practicing the AUM technique* in meditation.

A way to overcome all fear

Communing with the sound of AUM in meditation is one of the easiest ways to become completely absorbed in the Divine. By regular communion with AUM, we overcome all fear, including the fear of death. Swami Kriyananda said when he first heard AUM in a dynamic way, the whole world could have gone up in flames and it just wouldn’t have mattered.

In addition to meditating on AUM, Nancy also did other things to attune her consciousness to the sound of AUM. She went through her day chanting “AUM Guru,” thereby seeking the Guru’s help in attuning to AUM. She reminded herself that everything she saw—the sun, flowers, birds, plants, people—was a solidified manifestation of AUM. Whenever a tense situation arose, she would silently and lovingly call on the power of AUM to calm herself and others.

A second bank robbery

Three years later almost to the day, Nancy was again at her bank when another robbery occurred. This time it was much more violent, and she was knocked to the ground. But from her three years of practicing the consciousness of AUM, she remained very calm despite all the commotion around her.

The tension was especially high in the area where the robbers were standing with their guns. Nancy decided to begin crawling “discreetly” toward the file cabinets where she would be farther away from the robbers. She said, “I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem.” A terrified woman on the floor, sensing Nancy’s calmness, began scooting towards her. Nancy grabbed the woman’s hand and guided her around a file cabinet where they were both out of the way.

Later, during an interview with the FBI, Nancy was the only witness who could give an accurate description of the robbers. She was told that the odds of being involved in two bank robberies were incredibly low.

Nancy attributed her calmness to having attuned her consciousness to AUM. She said, “My response to life has become totally different. Now, like my husband, who always takes two steps towards everything that comes his way, I do that too.”

A loving unity with all life

Nancy’s story shows the inner strength and transcendence that come from communing with AUM. Paramhansa Yogananda tells us that by listening to the omnipresent sound of AUM, our consciousness gradually expands from the limitations of the body into the freedom of omnipresence where all life is one.

AUM is the cosmic vibration by which God created and sustains the universe. When we commune with AUM in meditation, we experience the divine unity and harmony underlying all creation—and we know without a shadow of doubt that the universe is not against us, but with us in loving unity. By communing with AUM, we enter into, and flow with, the stream of God’s love and bliss.

We tend to think, “Gosh, there’s so much in life that’s unpredictable.” But we know of other devotees who have been in life-threatening situations and have felt only calmness and a sense of harmony. Like Nancy, whenever a devotee makes a sincere effort in meditation to know God as Spirit and to live in His reality, God, seeing our sincerity, protects us when we’re in danger.

Like so many others, I too have had this experience. After some years of meditating and attuning to AUM, I came very close to drowning.

Trapped under a waterfall

It happened a number of years ago when I gave a week-long nature program at the Expanding Light Guest Retreat at Ananda Village. One day I took the people in the program to the river for a swim. It was June and the water was a little high. All of us were swimming near a beautiful waterfall about five or six feet high.

I swam a bit too close to the edge of the waterfall where the water was churning and I was pulled underwater. Somehow my leg got stuck under the rocks. I tried to free my leg but couldn’t.

Surprisingly, I was very calm. I remember thinking, “Is this how I’m to go, Master?” It was as though I was watching myself going through the experience. I was running out of breath, but I didn’t become nervous. I simply continued trying to free my leg.

Finally the leg pulled loose and I was able to rise to the surface of the water and get a mouthful of air. But I was immediately thrown right back down under the water. Moments later I was again able to rise to the surface. I managed to get another quick mouthful of air before again being pulled under the water.

One of the men in the group noticed what was happening and he and two other men formed a chain. With the chain supporting him, one of the men reached down into the water, grabbed my arm, and pulled me to safety.

Reflecting on the experience afterwards, I was happy to realize that I’d remained calm the entire time. Many of us have had similar experiences where God has stepped in and protected us. From the deep calmness that we feel, we know that He is with us. Whether we live or die, we know we are safely in His hands.

The blueprint of AUM

A scientist at Yale University in the 1940s was studying salamanders and discovered something very interesting that also applies to us. A salamander egg contains an electrical field with the blueprint of the adult salamander. As the salamander starts to grow, the force field of that blueprint guides it to maturity. The same thing is true of plants. Every seed has the blueprint of the mature plant.

This is even more true of us. God has stamped our souls with His image of perfection. As Swami Kriyananda has said, “We aren’t physical bodies; we’re blissful manifestations of AUM.” As we enter into the consciousness of AUM, that image of perfection becomes more and more our reality.

Join the cosmic choir

Try to live more in the consciousness of AUM. Remember that every sound you hear, even the honking of a horn, is an expression of the cosmic sound of AUM. Listen to sounds in nature as if they were the AUM vibration—the ocean surf, the wind in the trees, the singing of birds. This practice will help you hear the AUM sound in meditation.

The following meditation by Swami Kriyananda will also help attune you to the Infinite Sound:

Imagine a choir composed of every atom in the universe, each one an individual, but all of them singing together in blissful harmony.

In your own mind, join that mighty choir, composed of all life.

Determine from today on to sing in harmony with the universe. Don’t impose on the great anthem of life your little wishes for how you want the music to sound.

Unite your notes to that Infinite Sound.

The more you do so, the more deeply you will know yourself to be an expression of the soaring anthem of Infinity.**

Whenever you feel anxious or inharmonious, use this meditation to attune yourself with God and all creation. Live more in the consciousness of AUM. One who constantly sings AUM during his activities, and with his whole being, makes his life a continuous song of joy.

]]>http://www.ananda.org/aum-kriyananda-yogananda/feed/74500Nature as a Bridge to the Divinehttp://www.ananda.org/bharat-cornell-nature-children/
http://www.ananda.org/bharat-cornell-nature-children/#respondMon, 02 Mar 2009 06:47:03 +0000http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/?p=16Ananda member Joseph Bharat Cornell is the founder of Sharing Nature Worldwide. His books on nature awareness have sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education and have been translated into twenty languages. In Japan alone, there are 30,000 trained Sharing Nature leaders.

Q. Bharat, when did you first realize that nature was important to you?

A. When I was five-years-old. I was in my backyard and looking intently upward into a thick fog when all of a sudden, bursting through a gap in the fog, came a flock of pearl-white snow geese. It seemed as if the sky had given birth to them. Seeing the snow geese thrilled me deeply, and ever since I’ve wanted to immerse myself in nature.

By the time I was twelve, I was waking up at dawn to run through the wildlands near my home. I took such delight in everything I saw that I often ran right through the ponds and marshes.

Q. When did you know that your career path lay in doing something connected with nature?

It was when I was a student at Chico State University and majoring in international relations. In one of my courses I read a statement by a 19th century European leader who said, “I don’t want war, but I want my country to get what it wants.”

This was during the Vietnam War and I, like many others, felt a deep desire to bring peace into the world. But after reading that statement, I realized that the self-interest of people and nations made it very difficult to achieve world peace.

I had been spending many days in the wilderness and feeling at times a joyous sense of stillness and expansion. Recalling these experiences, I thought, “This is real peace. This is something true that I can share with others.”

So I changed my major to Nature Awareness. I was the first student to be accepted into Chico’s special major program, where a student could create a non-traditional degree. I also started a meditation practice to try to experience more regularly the joyous serenity and expansion I often felt in nature.

Q. After you graduated from Chico State, did you find a way to share with people the peace you experienced in nature?

A. By then I knew about experiential nature activities, which I had immediately recognized as a way to imbue nature encounters with a dynamic sense of joy and receptivity. After graduating in 1973, I began developing my own nature activities and sharing them at outdoor schools and camps.

Both children and adults enjoyed them immensely. The activities became very popular among educators and youth leaders, and soon nearly every Boy Scout camp in the western United States was using them.

Q. You later presented many of those activities in your first book, Sharing Nature with Children. What prompted you to write it?

In 1975 I joined Ananda and soon entered the monastery. I was under the impression that monks should not be involved in society, but knowing how much people loved the nature activities, I decided to write them down for posterity. I thought I was writing the book as a last gift to the world.

Swami Kriyananda, however, had other plans for me. After Sharing Nature with Children was published, he suggested that one of the senior monks begin arranging autograph events to promote the book. It was due to Kriyananda’s encouragement that I began making public appearances.
Q. Sharing Nature with Children has been widely praised as a landmark book. What distinguished it from other nature books?

A. Most nature education books then available engaged only the intellect. I wanted to engage people’s hearts and intuition so they could deeply experience nature. The book was also practical, with easy-to-use activities and inspiring stories that captured people’s imagination.

Paramhansa Yogananda said that rather than explain things to people, we should help them put out the kind of energy that brings them onto the wavelength of what we’re trying to teach. Each nature activity in Sharing Nature with Children is a little discipline that helps children and adults become more sensitively aware of nature and their higher Self.

Q. Why did eight years pass between your first and second book?

A. I was planning to write a sequel to Sharing Nature with Children when Swami Kriyananda asked my wife, Anandi, and me to become leaders of the developing Ananda Palo Alto Center. He said, “The work you’re doing in nature is wonderful, but you’ve come to Ananda to find God and I have to honor that.” So I suspended all of my nature work for the three years we were in Palo Alto.

Kriyananda’s words were really about following God’s will and embracing divine opportunities. Serving in Palo Alto was very helpful to me spiritually and also gave me the understanding and tools to write a much better book. From teaching the meditation classes at the Ananda center, I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of stillness and inner receptivity, not only for meditation but also for deeper nature experiences. Through prayer and meditation, I later found ways to apply what I learned in writing my second book, Sharing the Joy of Nature. *

Q. Can you explain how you were able to do that?

A. I created a system called “Flow Learning,” a way of sequencing nature activities to awaken in people a strong flow of energy and open them to an experience of absorption and expansion. An experience of absorption is the key to deeper nature experiences.

The great naturalist, John Muir, would become so absorbed in the natural world that he would lose consciousness of his own separate existence and feel himself merging with the totality of nature. His great love and reverence for life came from his experience of oneness with everything around him.

For Flow Learning to work, I also had to create many new nature activities. I would think of a spiritual principle from Paramhansa Yogananda’s teachings, hold it in my mind, and pray: “How can I create a way for people to easily experience this principle?”

“Expanding Circles,” for example, is based on one of Yogananda’s meditations where you expand your sense of self. In this activity, you sit quietly in nature and gradually, in stages, expand your awareness to encompass everything you see.

One woman who did this activity said, “At first I felt like I was composing a picture. After a while I found that I’d stepped inside and become the picture.”

Q. What has been the response to Flow Learning?

A. Very enthusiastic. Our Sharing Nature leader in Brazil gave a workshop based on Flow Learning for Amazon tour guides. They were skeptical at first but after several activities, one person approached her and said with deep emotion, “You are helping me find the forest inside of me! We don’t know the forest in this way!”

In Switzerland, the professors at a teachers’ college were so enthusiastic about Flow Learning that right after my speech, one professor eagerly asked me, “What was life like before Flow Learning!”

Flow learning shows people how to awaken energy and direct it upwards for superconscious inspiration. For most people this is a revelation. Today Flow Learning is widely used by educators and corporate trainers throughout the world.

Q. Have Flow Learning and the new Sharing Nature activities caused people to become more interested in the spiritual life?

A. Yes. Through the experience of absorption, people achieve a deep level of peace and joyful expansion. Often they become interested in forming a meditation practice to cultivate and enhance the feeling they had during the workshop.

Often people are caught up with the mundane realities of life and fail to appreciate life’s underlying unity and harmony. But the understanding that we are a part of something larger than ourselves is Nature’s greatest gift. As people experience their larger reality, they become inspired and their life priorities change.

Q. You have offered sharing Nature programs in countries like Japan, China, Brazil, and Greece — places where the spirituality varies. What is the response of people who are Taoists or Buddhists or follow other spiritual paths?

A. When people experience divine qualities like peace or love, they become deeply appreciative, no matter what their culture or spiritual tradition.

I recently gave an “Inner Nature” workshop at a Zen community in Devon, England, and the leader there told me, “We wanted to include environmental awareness in our programs, but didn’t know how to do it and stay true to our spiritual calling. The Sharing Nature activities are perfect for us.”

Sharing Nature is based on universal principles. In Greece people said the Sharing Nature program was just the way Plato taught, and in Japan they said it was very Japanese.

Q. Sharing Nature has triggered a consciousness revolution based on direct experience through nature activities. It has changed the consciousness of millions of people and given them the tools to change others. How can someone receive training to lead Sharing Nature programs?

A. In May 2009 I’ll be offering a five-day training and retreat at Ananda’s Expanding Light Guest Retreat. People new to Sharing Nature as well as Sharing Nature leaders from around the world will be attending. The program includes nature meditations, nature activities for children and adults, Flow Learning, and much more. It’s going to be a wonderful week.

Question

I can only feel comfortable and relaxed when I set slouching. Whenever I sit perfectly upright I feel knots of tension in my stomach and mind which prevents me from meditating. Any advice?

—andrew, us

Answer

Dear Friend,

I would try sitting upright for just a short period of your meditation. This will help to strengthen your muscles and allow you to sit upright more comfortably. You can also put a pillow on your chair and use it to tilt your upper body so that it is easier to keep your spine upright. Also, doing yoga postures will help you to strengthen your back. Many people feel uncomfortable sitting upright when they begin to meditate but this is overcome as they continue to meditate. Hopefully this will be your experience, too. There is an excellent article on the Ananda Meditation Support site on how to sit comfortably in meditation. Go to www.learn-meditation.org and look under the meditation articles.

Question

i have a friend who has recently begun to practice meditation. she is experiencing headaches when she tries to look into the spiritual eye. what would you recommend in such a case?

—tyler, usa

Answer

Your friend is probably physically tensing her muscles while she is concentrating at the spiritual eye. She should “concentrate” on gazing at the spiritual eye with relaxation. I would suggest having her feel that she is looking from the medulla oblongata, through the brain, to the spiritual eye. This will keep her from tensing her muscles around the spiritual eye. She can also feel like she is looking up at a high mountain in the distance.

In time it will be easier for her to keep her eyes uplifted. So tell her not to worry unduly about keeping the eyes focused at the spiritual in the beginning. She can spend just a short time focusing there. This way she can focus more on her meditation technique and less on how her eyes are placed!